Quibbles And Bits Sports Edition: Royals!

by Kevin Burton    Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!    Led by major league batting champion Bobby Witt Jr. (.332 batting average), the Kansas City Royals qualified for the playoffs!  I’m still a little bit in disbelief.    The Royals bubbled up into the playoffs in 2014 and I said what I am saying …

I Can Still Feel That Mexican Embrace

by Kevin Burton    There is a cove that I visit, a path where I meander, to which no one on earth can follow.    I don’t go often, but when I go, I go down deep.    Out of despair from not being able to break into journalism, I decided at 24 to go …

My Shifting Sports Team Allegiances

by Kevin Burton    Time and location, location, location, can change even the most fervent loyalties when it comes to sports fan allegiances.       On ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption, Tony Kornheiser talks about the New York Mets as “the team of my youth” to differentiate it from his current favorite, the Washington Nationals. That is …

Leap For Joy Leaplings, Today Is Your Big Day

by Kevin Burton    Steve Mingori was an excellent left-handed relief pitcher for Cleveland and Kansas City in the American League.  He finished a 10-year career with an ERA of 3.03.    I always thought of him as a “minus” pitcher. That means in my baseball board games, if a certain number came up and …

“Here Comes Foster!” There Goes Al Michaels

by Kevin Burton    I love me some Al Michaels. Our sportscaster-sports consumer relationship goes back more than 50 years.    How much do I love Al Michaels?  Well, I watched the entire unwatchable Raiders-Chargers game Thursday because he was calling it. I didn’t even have any fantasy players involved.   And I’ve been watching …

Good Riddance Steve Physioc, Go Royals

by Kevin Burton    The Royals lost their season-opening baseball game to Minnesota 2-0 Thursday. The prediction I saw last week said the team would lose 103 games this year.    So why am I newly pumped about the team?    The team has promoted Jake Eisenberg, who had been doing play-by-play for its Omaha …

Old Times, Springtime And Baseball Cards

by Kevin Burton     Mid-March, this time of year. In the old days, when it wasn’t quite time for baseball, it was time for baseball cards.     Growing up at the school for the blind in Ohio in the 70s, with the gloom and chill of February fading, with temperatures perhaps in the high 40s …

Hey Baseball, Get Off My Lawn!

by Kevin Burton    The seasons are changing, calendar and sports calendar; the time is changing (spring forward Saturday night, kids), too much is changing.    Any number of poets have rhapsodized about the beginning of spring and all it symbolizes. OK, I’m good with that. But as a sports guy in the man cave, …

Sweet Dreams And Super Bowl Victory For KC

by Kevin Burton    My wife Jeannette got the news late: the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions!    She got the news late because she left the game in the second quarter and headed to bed. Her work starts very early and so bedtime comes early too, Super Bowl or not.    She …

Yay, Comma, Football Is Back, Period

by Kevin Burton     Remember the interjection song from Schoolhouse Rock?    The song says interjections are “generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.”    Well I was feeling pretty sheepish about this, but I said the sentence “Yay! Football is back” …